Gadhafi's death suspicious, ICC says

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- There are "serious suspicions" that the circumstances surrounding the October death of Moammar Gadhafi amount to a war crime, the ICC said.

Gadhafi died Oct. 20 after falling into rebel hands. Various video accounts of his capture show him alive after a suspected NATO strike on a convoy near his hometown of Sirte. A later video showed him shirtless and lifeless on the ground.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, called on Libya's new leaders to update the court on its internal investigations into suspected crimes against humanity.

"The death of Moammar Gadhafi is one of the issues to be clarified -- what happened -- because there are serious suspicions that it was a war crime," Ocampo was quoted by The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London as saying.

Last month, Ocampo testified before the U.N. Security Council that the court wouldn't intervene if there are "genuine national proceedings" in place to investigate Gadhafi's death.

He added that claims NATO forces and rebel forces may have been responsible for crimes committed during the conflict "will be examined impartially and independently by the office (of the prosecutor)."

The ICC, the British newspaper notes, called on Libya's new government to update the court on their plans before Jan. 10. Ocampo's next report on war crimes in Libya is expected in May.

NATO-led forces, operating under a Security Council mandate, took military action against Gadhafi's regime in March. Ocampo accused Gadhafi during the height of the conflict of committing atrocities since the invasion.